In the tech hub, the silence was heavy until Anmol grabbed his headset. The situation in Delhi was spiraling. "Hardik! Call the Military officers to send troops to Delhi at the accident place!"
Hardik didn't blink. He knew exactly who to call. "Yes Sir! In the Military, I have a good friend who is a Colonel. His name is Vansh."
Within seconds, the line patched through.
"Hello! How are you, bro?" Vansh's voice came through, sounding calm despite the chaos Hardik was about to describe.
"Good, Bro!" Hardik replied urgently. "I have some work from you. You have listened to the condition of Delhi from the news. Send more troops to Delhi, because many of your troops are finished due to the blast, and the remaining are already at the incident place. Someone has trapped them—they are trying to fight, but it is still a losing battle."
Colonel Vansh's tone shifted instantly to professional steel. "Okay, I will send more troops and Army jeeps with powerful equipment."
The Kill Zone
Back at the blast site, the air was a horizontal curtain of lead. Veer pressed his back against a crumbling concrete wall, feeling the vibrations of bullets impacting the other side.
"Everyone take cover!" Veer yelled over the roar of gunfire. "Don't try to shoot right now! Try to waste their ammo by taking cover!"
On the other side of the debris, Shiven was trying to manage the two recruits. "Rahul and Karan, don't roam here and there! You should be active every time!"
Rahul looked at the devastation—the twisted metal and charred remains of the street. "But, Sir... I don't think anyone would be alive here in this destroyed place. We are wasting our time."
Shiven grabbed Rahul by the tactical vest, pulling him closer to the safety of the barrier. "You don't know what case you are working on! I'm leading you now, so you should do what I say. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir!" Rahul and Karan shouted in unison.
The Clone Revelation
Karan wiped sweat and soot from his forehead. "Sir, you are saying someone can be alive after that massive blast?"
Shiven checked his magazine, his eyes cold. "Yes. Of course. I think someone can survive this... and they are clones."
The word hung in the air, more chilling than the gunfire. If they were fighting clones, the normal rules of engagement didn't apply.
On Veer's side of the battlefield, the sound of reloading echoed. Veer signaled his men. "Everyone, right now, go to the place from where they were firing!"
The ISA troops moved like shadows through the smoke, flanking the sniper positions. But as they reached the location, a horrifying, distorted voice ripped through the air. One member of the troop let out a strangled cry: "What!?"
Suddenly, the sounds of struggle erupted. "Every troop's voice came as they were hitted by something," the air filling with the thuds of an invisible or hyper-accurate enemy.
The Loop
Veer realized his men were being picked off. "Go to the other place from where they were firing!" he ordered, moving with a speed that defied the smoke.
He stopped, his breath hitching. "What the hell! How are they so damn accurate? I should go near them without being noticed. We have to clear this fast and see if Shiven, Rahul, and Karan are okay."
But as he moved, a sense of déjà vu washed over him.
On the other side of the sector, Rahul stopped dead in his tracks. "Sir, don't you think we are coming from the starting where we are going and coming again?"
Shiven looked around, his heart sinking as he recognized the same scorched bus and the same pile of glass they had passed minutes ago. "You are right! We are stuck in a loop. But how come we got stuck? As I know, when we reached here, a sudden fire started and the Chief sent us right here so we can check if there are clones."
"So how will we get out of here?" Karan asked, his voice trembling.
"I should contact Anmol," Shiven said, reaching for his comms.
"But we are already in contact with these earpods," Rahul pointed out.
Shiven pulled the device from his ear and looked at it. There was no static. No hum. No green light. "Do you really think we are in contact? If we were in contact, why is there no sound coming from it? And if we were in contact, they could hear us and immediately tell us what to do."
Karan looked down, ashamed. "I am sorry, Sir."
"Leave it," Shiven snapped, looking into the swirling fog of the loop. "We don't have time to fight right now. Just be active."
Written by Veer Tyagi
A young dreamer building his own universe.
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